Amherst schools roll out new online bullying reporting system

Amherst Regional High School.

Amherst Regional High School. GAZETTE FILE PHOTO

By SCOTT MERZBACH

Staff Writer

Published: 10-03-2024 1:22 PM

AMHERST — A new bullying reporting system is on the websites for the Amherst, Pelham and Amherst-Pelham Regional Public Schools, providing an improved process for notifying school officials about possible incidents and ensuring prompt investigations.

Jerry Champagne, the district’s director of information systems, recently presented the platform that uses BRIM anti-bullying software to a joint meeting of the school committees.

“It’s really a very basic simple system if people follow through,” Champagne said.

Champagne explained that users can report what happened and the location and time of the alleged offense, with additional options including uploading a video or photo of the incident and identifying possible suspects or witnesses. The system offers a range of the type of behavior that could be deemed bullying, including threats and intimidation, racism and transphobia and religious comments.

Once reported, an investigation is done, leading to a final report determining if bullying happened or not. For administrators, this process also allows for interventions, to build a database of repeat offenders and to identify hot spots for when bullying or similar incidents occur, such as locations in the school buildings.

Superintendent E. Xiomara Herman is alerted when various designated investigators in the buildings and the district are reviewing a bullying report. Herman immediately gets an email when a bullying report is made, sees which school it is coming from and can then go into dashboard to learn more details. If a bullying report is opened, she is kept apprised of progress.

The new system, with a link at the top of the schools’ websites, supplements a revised bullying plan and policy put in place earlier this year, prompted, in part, by the reports of mistreatment of LGBTQ+ students by counselors that roiled the district, in particular the middle school, in 2023.

“The richness of it is we’re delving deeper into the data than we had with the previous system,” Herman said.

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Some questions came from elected officials. Shutesbury representatives Anna Heard said her concern is that if harassment is happening but it doesn’t meet the standards of bullying, whether action would be taken.

“My concern is when it is harassment and it doesn’t rise to a level of bullying, there still needs to be follow-up, it still needs to be timely and I feel still needs to be within the reporting system until the situation is addressed, even if it’s not qualified as bullying,” Heard said.

“I think what you are asking is happening,” Herman said,

Reports are never deleted from the system and remain intact, even if it is determined to be unfounded. Herman said data is a key for developing programs and next steps.

“It’s critical for us to say that even if it didn’t amount to bullying, it is something that occurred and we needed to address,” Herman said.

The picture being captured, Herman said, allows for understanding the incidents and trends, possible repeated behavior and to intervene, whether one person is involved or there are multiple people suspected of bullying.

“Data is key and critical,” Herman said.

Even if a case is closed without meeting the definition of bullying, Champagne said interventions may happen, such as counseling for the student or calling the caregiver.

“The point is to get it stop before it rises to the level of bullying,” Champagne said.

Pelham representative William Sherr said he would prefer the system didn’t have a “closed, unfounded” as an outcome. Still, he said he appreciated the bullying reporting platform. “It’s so much better, so I appreciate that,” Sherr said.

Amherst representative Jennifer Shiao said the advances made in the new system are good. “I think it’s going to be a big improvement over the previous (system),” Shiao said.

“This is a really great system,” said Amherst representative Irv Rhodes said.

Amherst representative Sarah Marshall said she hopes it’s easy for students to access and use.

Amherst representatives Bridget Hynes said she has a sense of relief that data tracking is happening, after what the district has been through over the past 18 months.

“It’s just a very smart and skillful system” Hynes said.

Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.